Imbolc Waning Moon of the Cold Month
Got in the Celica this am and took off for the MNDOT building where I parked. Three hours for $4.50 in quarters, paid at a central pay station. The only argument I had with it was that the pay station was outside when there was a perfectly warm building within 20 feet of its location. Anyhow it gave me plenty of time to have lunch in the MNDOT cafeteria, favored of lobbyists, with Justin Fay, the Sierra Club lobbyist. We talked politics, a favorite activity of mine, somewhat akin to fly fishing or racquetball for others, I imagine.
The cafeteria has a wide expanse of windows, a hundred feet by 30 foot room full on non-descript tables. Files and briefcases and blackberries sit slumped by chairs or flat on a table, folks hunched over them as if they had the latest news of breaking legislation. And, who know? They might. I suspect one of this places charms is its distance from the capitol since it sits about three blocks away from the capitol itself, connected by the very sensible tunnel system that passes through S.O.B–nope, not that, State Office Building–then to the capitol and at the other end of its run the State Supreme Building.
After lunch Justin and I walked through the tiled and dimly lit tunnel to the S.O.B., an office building that houses Representatives and Senators, especially now the DFL senate, here for the first time since partisan politics began in the state thanks to the Elephant stampede last fall. In SOB and in the capitol the hallways and benches, elevators waiting rooms filled up two and three gathered together, huddled and discussing this or that fine point of pending legislation or a Superbowl party. Suits are the garb d’jour, but there are plenty of us non-suited folks wandering the halls, too. That way it’s easy to tell the players from the audience.
We met with a member of the House of Representatives after a brief stop in the Senate DFL Siberia to check on talking points on legislation due for a floor vote soon. This member, a liberal from Minneapolis, welcomed us into his office and we chatted for about an hour, sharing talking points, questions to ask about this legislation and that, getting his reading of the legislature this first day of February. When we were done, we left, headed for the elevators, down to the basement, through the tunnel back to the MNDOT building and back out to our cars. Time to go home.
Politics, especially legislative politics, is all about relationships and relationships are all about showing up. It’s so physical, immediate that you can forget the essential matters being dealt with. It is, as one veteran lobbyist said, high school. Never ending high school.
